Medical stethoscopes generally consist of a chestpiece for picking up sounds and a pair of ear tubes connected to the chestpiece, usually through separate passageways, for transmitting the sounds to each ear. The ear tubes have traditionally consisted of bent metal tubes with plastic or cushioned earplugs on the end for comfort of the wearer and insulation of outside sound sources, together with a tensioning device such as a leaf spring for maintaining the earpieces in contact with the ears of the user. Stethoscopes of this general type are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. such as 3,108,652 and 4,200,169.
Various of the prior art patents have shown leaf spring constructions for joining together the bottom ends of earpieces so as to urge the curved ends into proper position in the user's ear. These have generally involved a rather wide flat leaf spring, sometimes with several leaves, with the ends of the spring formed into a semi-tubular configuration to receive the end of the ear tube. Some show the spring being crimped to the end of the ear tube inside a bushing or similar holding mechanism for joining the spring to the earpieces. The prior art devices have generally been satisfactory, but have been somewhat bulky and hard to fold for easy placing in the pocket of a doctor/user. This has been particularly true with the large single leaf springs while the multiple leaf springs have generally required a tubular bushing or other connector means to join the spring leaves to the ear tubes with consequent higher costs and difficulty of manufacture.